China has decided that national security no longer belongs only in classified briefings and sombre party documents. It now comes with speech bubbles, dramatic sketches, and a Lunar New Year box-office release.

What began in 2024 as a set of state-backed espionage comic books is steadily evolving into a full-spectrum popular culture campaign. By 2026, national security messaging will arrive in Chinese cinemas in the form of big-budget films, ensuring that counter-espionage concerns reach audiences who may have come for popcorn but leave thinking about spies.

The first signs of this shift appeared in January 2024, when the Ministry of State Security released a series of online comic books adapted from real-life espionage cases. State-run Global Times presented the initiative in suitably grand terms, reminding readers that 'national security is the foundation of national rejuvenation.' The format, however, was anything but austere: vivid artwork, cliffhanger plots, and clear moral lines were designed to make intelligence threats legible and memorable to a digital-first generation more familiar with manga panels than ministry notices.

The embrace of pop culture reflects a deeper unease within the Chinese party-state as intelligence competition with the West sharpens. Public disclosures by the CIA about rebuilding espionage networks inside China appear to have reinforced President Xi Jinping's long-held view that national security cannot be outsourced solely to professionals in dark suits. It must instead become a civic habit. That message was underlined when the CIA released a Mandarin-language outreach video aimed directly at Chinese nationals an unusual move that Beijing was unlikely to miss.

Evidence of this mass mobilisation predates the comics. In August 2023, images circulated on Weibo showing buses in Xinzheng, near Zhengzhou, covered in posters offering cash rewards for reporting suspected spies. The message was blunt and unmistakable: vigilance was being normalised, one bus route at a time.

Now the campaign is heading for the big screen. China's first major feature film focused on contemporary national security is expected to debut during the Lunar New Year holiday, the country's most lucrative movie-going season. According to Reuters, Jingzhe Wusheng (Scare Out) revolves around the leak of classified information connected to China's latest fighter jet, setting off a tense pursuit between national security officers and a suspected spy. Filmed largely in Shenzhen, the southern technology hub, it is being promoted as China's first feature-length film squarely focused on modern espionage threats.

Produced under the guidance of the Ministry of State Security, the film is intended to pull counter-espionage firmly into mainstream entertainment. State news agency Xinhua has made the intent explicit, arguing that espionage is no longer a distant or abstract danger, but one that 'concerns everyone.' Directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Yi Yangqianxi and Zhu Yilong, the project aligns neatly with Beijing's broader soft-power strategy, as Xi continues to stress the role of cultural storytelling alongside military modernisation.